adminEddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE cricket coach Dav Whatmore is pleased with the competition for places among the players in the training squad as they wind up preparations ahead of the visit by former world champions India next week.
The 61-year old coach has been leading the side through their paces since last month and hopes to see the competitive side of his Zimbabwe in the forthcoming tour.
Zimbabwe are set to engage India in three One Day Internationals starting next Friday at Harare Sports Club.
The ODI series will be followed by two Twenty20 matches at the same venue.
The two nations were in the same group at this year’s World Cup and Zimbabwe lost by six wickets in the last Pool B match.
Whatmore said they have been working on their fitness and also correcting the shortcomings from the World Cup and the recent tour to Pakistan.
The Australian coach said he was impressed by the response from his charges during the three weeks of training with an enlarged squad of 20 players.
“We are looking to put in a strong performance, no question about it,” said Whatmore.
“Particularly, we are batting well. We can improve in our fielding and we have been looking at that. The other area, of course, is bowling, we need to improve our performance in that area.
“We have been looking at supplementing the group of bowlers and in selection of the 20-member squad we have new bowlers in it – Luke Jongwe, Neville Madziva and Donald Tiripano – in addition to Tinashe Panyangara and Brian Vitori.
“So we are recognising the fact that we need to improve in that area and we have selected what we think are good players to come in if they are good enough to be selected and do well for us.
“That makes good competition and I am seeing very strong competition again in the ‘keepers too between Richmond Mutumbami and Regis Chakabva, it’s very good.”
India have named their touring squad and are expected in the country on Tuesday.
The tourists will be led by 27-year old top order batsman, Ajinkya Rahane, who is the stand-in captain in the absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Whatmore is looking beyond the upcoming tour.
The coach is pleased by the arrangement to play more games this year against full members, which he believes will only mould the team into a better side.
Zimbabwe are set to host a triangular series involving West Indies and Pakistan next month and then Bangladesh towards the end of the year.
“The boys always want to play cricket, they always want to play for Zimbabwe and the proposed fixture that we have for this calendar year is nothing like what they have experienced before,” said Whatmore.
“So there is a lot of competition scheduled. These boys know they need to be fit in order to get through.
“It’s looking a lot more like a normal Full Member’s fixture list and it’s going to get even more next year and that’s a very good thing.
“After going through all this I would want to see wins and more wins, simple as that.
“But Zimbabwe have been a bit unfortunate, I have to say. You know Tendai Chatara is out with a horrible injury to his leg and again the fourth best run getter at the World Cup Brendan Taylor will be missed.
“Solomon Mire is also no longer with us for other reasons, opting to study in Australia. It’s not to rule him out in the future but that’s what we are faced with right now.
“So I just want people to forget that despite these hurdles that are put in front of us we still have the skill. We have the hardware, we just need to improve the software in terms of the approach mentally when competition begins.
“And we are working towards that.”
Zimbabwe training squad:
Sikandar Raza Butt, Regis Chakabva, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Luke Jongwe, Roy Kaia, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Neville Madziva, Hamilton Masakadza, Christopher Mpofu, Richmond Mutumbami, Tinashe Panyangara, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Donald Tiripano, Prosper Utseya, Brian Vitori, Malcolm Waller and Sean Williams.
Online Reporter